Senator the Hon David Johnston The Hon Bob Baldwin Shadow Minister for Defence Shadow Minister for Defence Science & Personnel Senator for Western Australia Member for Paterson

“COMPUTER SAYS NO”

The SAS pay bungle which the Defence Minister has repeatedly assured us would be fixed is now worse than ever with another 49 SAS soldiers getting caught up in a bureaucratic audit which will see their take home pay slashed.

When asked in Question Time yesterday by Defence Science and Personnel Minister Bob Baldwin why this problem had been allowed to drag on for four months the Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon responded by blaming computer problems.

The Minister’s feeble response was “The computer says no”.

“The Minister has dropped the ball on this issue and has let our overstretched SAS troops return from fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan with debts that the new computer system has thrown up at them of up to $50,000,” Mr Baldwin said.

“Minister, these SAS soldiers are Australia’s finest, what about their “Rights at Work” over pay and conditions?” Mr Baldwin said.

Many soldiers also face a reduction in salary until they find the time to complete courses that they were not required to have before, in spite of repeated assurances that no soldier would be disadvantaged by the changes.

Senator Johnston said to add insult to injury last Friday SAS soldiers were sent an email threatening them with disciplinary action if they went “outside the chain of command” - to their Member of Parliament or to the media.

The email went on to imply there was “one or two” selfish individuals causing lots of additional paperwork and that SAS soldiers and their families concerned about their incomes should “consider their mates”.

The Defence Minister continues to say that the issue is complex and difficult to solve.

However, Senator Johnston said the solution was relatively simple:

SAS personnel who at 9 August 2007 were deemed to be fully qualified are recognised as being fully qualified immediately and in the future, with no debts and back pay for salaries deducted to date - as per the original briefing in 2008 when the soldiers were told emphatically ‘that no soldier would be disadvantaged’ by the new pay system.

SAS personnel who were not fully qualified on 9 August 2007 or those who have joined the SASR since that date with outstanding qualification deficits are to be given 36 months as of 1 March 2009 to gain these qualifications with a proviso that they be granted access to the required courses as a matter of priority, with no financial detriment in the interim.

Senator Johnston slammed the threat to SAS soldiers to stay silent on the issue, saying that these soldiers were disciplined and loyal, and had agonised over the decision to ask for help because they had been fighting the bureaucrats since March last year over their salary reductions and debts.

“These are the guys that put their lives on the line for our country and for them to be treated this way by having their wages reduced and then threatened with disciplinary action for speaking out about it is a national disgrace.”